84 HR officers linked to Sh6.2 billion payroll fraud sent on forced leave

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Some 84 human resource officers suspected of being involved in the Sh6.2 billion payroll fraud have been sent on forced 30-day leave with immediate effect.

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku, in his order, said the HR officers are drawn from Medical Health, Public Health, Professional Standards, Kenya Police Service and Kenya Prisons Service departments.

The move comes after the Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI) on July 7 handed over a State payroll audit of February 2025, which showed a fraud that might have cost taxpayers Sh6.2 billion.

The Standard had carried an investigative report dubbed 'Prison Heist' that exposed a Sh41 million payroll heist at the State Department for Correctional Services, which falls under the Kenya Prisons Service.

The expose showed how a rogue accountant logged into the system on December 19, 2025, and initiated transfers of allowances for almost 1,000 officers in a single day.

The shocking scheme saw officers across all ranks receive unsolicited payments ranging from Sh30,000 to Sh140,000, with the total irregular payout amounting to Sh41,346,895.

The breach was so outrageous that senior officers who head prisons across the country and are either too senior or on the verge of retirement were included in the transfers, raising immediate red flags.

The State Department for Correctional Services oversees 135 penal institutions spread across 8 regions and 47 counties, with a daily average of 61,000 inmates in custody.

The CS, who was accompanied by Principal Secretary for Public Service and Human Development Jane Imbunya, also ordered the relevant PSs and accounting officers to ensure that payroll user rights of the suspected HR officers in the affected Departments are withdrawn with immediate effect.

According to the Ministry, in an effort to establish the modus operandi employed in the suspicious transactions, individuals whose particulars featured in the suspicious transaction data were sampled for interrogation and statement recording.

"The exercise is ongoing at various County Headquarters where the identified officers are deployed. Statements recorded so far indicate that some beneficiaries of the suspicious payments were recruited by their colleagues and, in certain instances, by Human Resource officers," said Ruku.

He added: "The recruited beneficiaries were subsequently used as conduits through whom irregular transactions were processed through the payroll system. It has further emerged from the statements recorded that, after receipt of the resulting payments, the beneficiaries allegedly remitted some of the proceeds to some recipient accounts."

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These emerging accounts, the CS pointed to a coordinated arrangement in which beneficiaries were recruited to facilitate the processing and receipt of irregular payroll payments, with a portion of the proceeds subsequently being shared with the persons facilitating the transactions.

The CS said in the meantime, the Ministry, through the State Department of Public Service and Human Resource Development, will deploy Human Resource officers in the affected State Departments to continue administration of the payroll.

He also said there are expected arrests before the end of the 30 days, especially in the Kenya Prison Service.